Adrenalin: Fear the Rush (1996) User Reviews

NOt that bad...

[HighlanderArg · 5/10 · 25 June 2004]

(May have spoilers)

Fine, I admit it. I panick like hell with any horror film. HOwever, being a huge Lambert fan, I could not resist buying this one (it was $2, after all).

The director is Albert Pyun. With low budget, he's done some great stuff ("Mean Guns"), some acceptable stuff ("Blast"), and disasters ("Captain America"). This one would fit somewhere between the last two categories.

I expected this to suck enormously yet I wasn't highly dissapointed. It's Eastern europe (though it says Boston ¿), and after the Russian government collapsed, there's something killing people. To get this supposedly ordinary killer, the rookie Delon (Natasha Hensdrige, "Species") and other cop are sent to stop him. The other cop soon is killed and she is sent backup, among them Lemieux, a "distinguished" officer (Christopher Lambert). These four start to chase the creature around and that's the whole film.

The main character is the lovely Natasha, and not the Lamberto, who is always either getting shot (hang on -- you were shot, you broke a leg... this is not Highlander, right?), or buoying her to follow the thing. How come she ended here, I wonder if this wasn't to prove that she can do a film without showing her boobs.

Andrew Divoff makes a secondary appearance here, probably promised to have a bigger role (in "Blast) or after that film, he was doing a favour to Albie.

The rest of the cast is somewhat fine. The filming is great for the little budget, and it's not bad. It's just one of Pyun's "location films", where everything happens in the same place.

It deserves a 5 so I give it a 5.

No adrenaline. No rush. Nothing to fear.

[bitbucketchip · 3/10 · 11 August 2021]

This feels like movie that was dubbed into English from the original Linear A. Adrenaline was surely a mistranslation. The word they were looking for was "Don't".

Lambert and Henstridge are competent actors. They have earned themselves a better film than this. There are plot holes you can fly the space shuttle through. Enough continuity errors for a drinking game. The production crew should have waited for the gaffer to return from vacation before filming. And vampires. Vampires! How original.

Three stars for Lambert and Henstridge doing their best to turn nothing into something. Zero stars for the nothing they had to work with.

Three stars.

Adrenalin...fear the SUSPECT !

[face_of_terror · 5/10 · 18 December 2006]

Albert Pyun is a good director. This is not his best work, but not worst either.

The story is about A Russian Government that has collapsed (although the filming was in Croatia) , and some kind of virus leaks out, killing lots of people. In this chaos, police finds out that some guy has a deadly disease , and some officers are sent to catch him....

The cast is good. Christopher Lambert and Natasha Henstrige both did a good job. The Killer is played by a stuntman Craig Davis, who, in my opinion looks pretty scary in makeup. Cast also includes Andrew Divoff and Norbert Weisser (who appears in nearly every Albert Pyun film).

Nealy 90 % of the movie, Lambert and Henstridge spend in catacombs, dark tunnels, following the killer who seems to be strong as King Kong, and shoots like Rambo. The Atmosphere is there, second part of the movie is really creepy, but overall it gets boring as the time goes on. Also i didn't like the directing, every time there's a close up , camera is jumping, so u cant see whats going on.

Everything else is okay. A creepy little sci-fi thriller.

A career low for Mr. Lambert (gulp)

[Leigh L. · 8 June 1999]

Chris Lambert, you might think, is always good value for money. Or you might not think that at all. In fact, realistically, you're more likely to think that Natasha Henstridge (her out of Species) is always good value for money. Well, it doesn't matter in this case because you're wrong either way. Stop crying, you fool.

The first thing you'll notice about Adrenalin is that it all appears to have been filmed in a few scabby streets just behind the director's back garden. He probably thinks this looks authentic. It doesn't. It looks tragic. The entire film consists of Chris, 'Tash and a couple of other disposable rentacops legging it from one end of a street to the other and back again, popping into disintegrating buildings here and there along the way so that bits of it can fall on them, and occasionally pausing at either end of the street for a random shoot-out and/or for someone to get eaten by the startlingly unscary maniac they're supposed to be chasing. It must have taken such a great effort on behalf of all involved to keep the production values so consistently low that it somehow seems deserving of applause.

Ms. Henstridge, predictably, has very little to do except look scared, not manage to shoot anything and almost die every so often, while the inestimable Mr. Lambert seems to be here for no other reason than to get shot loads. It speaks volumes that he doesn't even attempt to rescue the film by interjecting his endearing trademark cackle into the dialogue at key moments. Not that he'd get much chance anyway: nobody really says anything but "Yowch, aargh, shoot him, he's eating me, aargh, oh no we're trapped, yowch, shoot him, aargh, my leg's fallen off."

The plot's some tosh about a plague having wiped out most of humanity, again, and towards the end of the film the wonderful scriptwriter comes up with the idea of having some Virus Control people turn up, mumble something about this killer they're chasing actually being the carrier of a new and far more deadly strain, then go away again and leave everyone to carry on getting shot. Everyone, that is, except for the people stuck with the job of writing up the box blurb, who seize this precious jewel of hope from the pigsty of horribleness and nurture it as if it were their own rancid offspring.

Adrenalin, then. It's one of the most boring films I've ever seen, which, for something that bills itself as a sci-fi horror thriller, isn't very good really.

like watching a black screen

[linguo · 1/10 · 27 January 2002]

Two cops chase a killer into a factory. What else? I don't know because the picture was so damn dark i couldn't see what was happening! You never know what is going on! It's as if the director forgot to put lighting on his budget for this film! I had the unfortunate luck of seeing this movie in a theater. Don't let the same tragedy happen to you.

Adrenalin:Fear the Rush

[Scarecrow-88 · 5/10 · 12 April 2007]

A virus-infected cannibalistic maniac, who needs to be killed because in a certain time he'll supply a plague that will danger mankind as he is a carrier, attacks humans using a curving knife with a spiked handle. Cops Christopher Lambert and Natasha Henstridge must pursue him into ventilation ducts which lead to an old, shut-down prison where he feels right at home. He becomes the predator and the cops become the prey as the prison is quite darkened and the monster is able to move quickly with cunning and skill. He also uses a gun that shoots the hell out of Lambert. Lambert's other partners include Liz Barondes and Norbert Weisser who wind up being hunted as well. As Weisser goes for help(there are scientists in quarantine suits on their way and Andrew Divoff is the leader who understands what is wrong with the maniac on the loose..if only he'd share with the rest of us), the other three must fend for themselves in an environment the quarry understands a lot more than them it seems. Once the maniac riddles Lambert and Barondes with bullets it'll be up to Henstridge to save them.

Surprisingly suspenseful with a lingering foreboding due to the decrepit, darkly lit prison setting. Director Albert Pyun decides to close his camera in on the killer's ferocious fangs and blood-shot eye. Most of the time, he's shrouded in darkness. Pyun mostly shoots everyone up close with long shot sequences mainly of the spooky corridors where the killer could pop out at the cops at any time. The film, though, doesn't have much of a plot other than the killer trapping our heroes in the prison. This horrifying future where plagued humans are separated from the healthy isn't given enough treatment. Pyun tended to shoot way too many facial shots barely giving the viewer any breathing room. He edits fast as well keeping the action moving at such breakneck speed. The camera rarely sits still. I kind of liked this B-movie for what it is. It doesn't have much of a leg to stand on, but with what little story Pyun(it's his own fault, though, since it was him who wrote it..it seems like he merely designed a chase'n'attack flick) has he makes an effective little no-budget creeper.

Bearable junk.

[gridoon · 4/10 · 25 December 2000]

Rock-bottom stuff in most respects, but fairly energetic camerawork, short running time and the gorgeous Henstridge keep it reasonably painless - if you don't mind the sloppy editing and the fact that the script is virtually non-existent. (**)

ridiculously predictable and stereotyped

[jjletto · 2/10 · 29 August 2011]

Maybe this was the thesis of the director (title: "make a movie using everything you have already seen in other claustrophobic movies"). ALL stereotypes of claustrophobic movie are present. And NOTHING more. It lacks: plot, dialogues, characters (I mean characters that resembles human beings)... Cops act as fearless brainless heroes or coward chicks. The "enemy" seems a sniper genius until five minutes before the end. Then he turns in a dumb stupid sub human villain. It seems the the "plot" was added with glue (and written by a baby), and anyway at the end something seems unclear. Only one thing is not negative: fast pace movie. The first 10 minutes can let you think it's a good movie. Do not trust them ;)

One long pre-credit sequence

[stevepatterson28 · 1/10 · 27 August 2002]

This film is so awful it would choke any goat that tried to make a meal of it. The entire film plays like a pre-credit sequence a-la any James Bond film, but not nearly as good as any such sequence. The lighting was poor; the editing, sloppy; and the acting . . . Ho! I was more than a little shocked to see that "Alan Smithee" didn't direct it. Do not see this film, I beg you! Learn from the mistakes of others.

I have both long and short versions.

[jhpstrydom · 7/10 · 22 January 2009]

I was at the local DVD retail store a couple of weeks ago and found ADRENALIN sitting on one of the shelves, first time I saw it was years ago when it first came out on VHS I actually liked it, I mean it was no masterpiece and surely wasn't as bad as people said it was, well okay if you want something that has more of a story, I recommend you try something else, because this film only sums up the story as follows.

A chemical leak in Europe has caused a deadly new virus, as the disease starts to spread towards the U.S, the government sets up quarantine camps in order to contain the large number of immigrants, now two cops that patrol the camps, one a rookie, (Natasha Hentsridge of Species and Ghosts of Mars) the other a seasoned veteran (Christopher Lambert of Highlander and Fortress) discover that a deranged killer is stalking the camps, but what they don't know is that he is infected with another type of virus that poses an even greater threat.

Now I have Adrenalin on a very worn out VHS tape, but I decided to buy the DVD for better quality, and to my surprise turned out to be a longer version of the film, the difference between them is the longer version has a longer pre credit sequence that paints a grimmer picture of what went on, and has a few extra scenes and some of the scenes you might be familiar with in the shorter version are extended, but I still like it, despite what others think.

Lastly, I have to admit I find Albert Pyun to be an interesting director, sometimes he directs a lot of really good films and other times I wonder is this the same guy? because considering his standard of good films, the bad ones actually leave your jaw hanging open and asking yourself, does this guy make movies to reflect in what kind of mood he's in at the time? Because when his movies are bad they're bad all right.

Albert and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad re-edit

[I_Ailurophile · 2/10 · 15 August 2023]

Let's not stand on pretense: this isn't very good. It's not very good at all. A fraction of the runtime has elapsed and we can easily discern that simple truth. I'm not sure whose fault it is that this isn't good, though, and I don't necessarily think it's Albert Pyun's. I'm not saying he was a great filmmaker, but I've watched several of his movies and had a good time for what they are. It's very noteworthy that this one boasts strong production values, a definite step or two above anything else of his that I've seen to date. The fact that this quickly shows itself to be little more than Just Another Zombie Flick, well, that's much less encouraging, but to read of the concept that Pyun apparently had for this feature suggests some welcome creativity. And I like Christopher Lambert, and Natasha Henstridge even more; sure, they've starred in no small amount of shlock, but we know what they're capable of. 'Adrenalin: Fear the rush' seems to have had some good things going for it, and that includes excellent filming locations, great effects and special makeup, solid production design, and otherwise fine work from the folks operating behind the scenes. I even quite like Tony Riparetti's score, and for the most part, George Mooradian's cinematography.

However, from there the problems mount immediately and substantially. For one thing, the dialogue is just trash - blunt, blocky, often feeling altogether forced, and even coming across as ill-fitting, as if some lines genuinely didn't belong where they were inserted. The pacing is weirdly uneven; sometimes this is very fast-paced, in the next moment it may curiously drag, and a moment later it's running right along again. Scenes as they present feel disordered, pushed along at an unnatural gait, and kind of sloppy, for what seems like different reasons at different times: sometimes the direction, sometimes the forced and heavy-handed acting that results from the direction, sometimes overexcited camerawork, sometimes choppy and overzealous editing, and sometimes simply the arrangement of a shot. The fundamental story, as we see it, likewise comes across as being shoved through a grinder, but in a strange capacity that doesn't actually reflect what was being fed into the grinder in the first place. The bones of the picture as we see it are just swell, I think, as a swift, violent action-horror romp. Those bones, unfortunately, have been whipped around inside an artificial hurricane at impossible velocity, and what we get in turn just never feels like what 'Adrenalin' was supposed to have been.

And if one takes a few minutes to read up on the history of this film, it turns out that the feeling of almost everything here just being bizarrely Wrong is entirely justified. For whatever it was that Pyun envisioned, what he wrote and what he filmed, he surely deserves some blame just as much as he deserves some credit. Yet how much of 'Fear the rush,' as it exists, is Pyun's film? How much of it is instead the hack job of apparent re-edits and rewrites under the care of, accordingly, Bob Weinstein, Andrew Rona, and Rand Ravich? The sense of sloppiness, unnatural order and pacing, some bits being out of place, forced, blocky - well, a lot of this certainly has to be the product of poor treatment beyond the initial cut. Please note, for example, tiny pieces of the visuals that connote the original production in eastern Europe, contrasted with new dialogue that posits the setting is Boston, Massachusetts. Does Pyun's version even still exist anywhere? Since Pyun sadly died in 2022 it doesn't seem possible that we'll ever see it, if it even is still out there somewhere, unless his widow finds the material and can orchestrate a "director's cut."

I don't think this is completely rotten. I see what it could have been, were more care and thought given to the movie's construction at any point. There was strong potential here. And yet I'm aghast that the potential I'm perceiving isn't even what the movie was supposed to be, but is instead an outrageously gawky, mismanaged bastardization. There are even elements of the narrative in this ill-considered kluge that feel like indifferent concessions to genre convention, and in consequence the whole decidedly struggles to even attain cohesiveness. For all the value that the feature can earnestly boast in its craftsmanship, and in Pyun's inceptive conjuration, and for all the value that this nevertheless almost carried in its extant form, I want to like this more than I do. For all those ways in which the extant feature is so astoundingly mangled and fragmented, I'm likely being all too generous in my assessment. For anyone who wants to argue for the need of much more robust protections for intellectual property and copyright laws, well, this is an exemplar for illustrating why studio executives, producers, and other filmmakers should not be allowed to get their hands on another's work and twist it to their own ends. There are worse things one could watch, yes, but him and haw all one wants about the particulars: at the end of the day, 'Adrenalin: Fear the rush' is a sad, sorry teachable moment in film-making and studio politics, and maybe that - and not the title in and of itself - is where its best worth ultimately lies.

Short and Schweet

[bodine-1 · 8/10 · 7 June 2010]

This senseless and incoherent action/horror flick is one of director Pyun's better movies. Number one...it's short, clocking in at a brisk 77 minutes. Number two...it's got the "Species" babe Henstridge in a role that doesn't require her to shed her clothes, but she STILL looks great. Number three...I like Lambert, no matter how awful the movies he chooses to be in happen to turn out.

As another reviewer stated, Lambert and Henstridge are cops chasing a mutant killer, who is carrying a contagious disease, through what looks like a sewer. That's about it for plot development, although there are some half-baked attempts to fill in Henstridge's character. Pyun is best suited to directing action set pieces and he has lots to work with here. Nice little time waster that's never boring and is over before you know it.

Evil, explicit and exciting

[interunic · 7/10 · 30 December 2008]

Although I can accept the critics of the minimal storyline this movie shows, I don't get what's the real problem with it. The effects and stunts are okay. The characters are of a standard kind for a movie like that. Story and idea are on a good atmospheric level. And the main argument for rating this movie on a higher position: Excitement... really nerve wrecking excitement. Also, Natasha Henstridge and Christopher Lambert did a good job. I like both of them as actors and charmful characters. The combination of Mad Max, Bone Collector and Escape from NY fits to the main actors and results in a interesting and thrilling movie based in somewhat dirty end-times.

FEAR THE FLICK

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 14 December 2018]

A new highly contagious virus is killing people, accidentally let loose in Eastern Europe. To make matters worse an infected killer cannibal is on the loose in a quarantined area of Boston immigrants. Delon (Natasha Henstridge) who has her own issues leads the gang that couldn't shoot straight against a man with a knife who is not John Rambo. Most of the film is consumed with a boring game of cat and mouse played out between our killer and the good guys.

The movie we are told takes place in Boston, but was filmed in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina which has noticeably different architecture. The police cars are small and have "Policia" written on the back. Who will notice?

I was able to purchase this film along with 5 others on a contagious film 6-pack at Walmart for $5.00

Parental Guide: F-bomb, no sex, no nudity. Scantily clad corpse with arms covering chest.

An existentialist, feminist, surrealist masterpiece

[pad-9 · 13 March 2003]

Contains spoilers. In 77 minutes Albert Pyun successfully encapsulates the human experience - stuck in a nightmare world heading for an inevitable confrontation with death. And the reward for our endeavours - a free pass over the border (with no hint as to what lies on the other side, but considering that's where the 'monster' came from we can only guess it's not much better). This grim vision of existence is interwoven with an equally unsettling subtext concerning childbirth. The endless probing through tunnels with flashlights and guns, the incessant scenes of pain, the angels of death in their bright raiment transformed in the subtext into the medical team come to deliver the baby from the infinite void into which we must all return. It's interesting how Pyun uses his characters to bring out this subtext: Natasha Henstridge as the mother, Christopher Lambert the supportive husband, who encourages her to take this painful journey and in the end proves to be totally useless, while the secondary characters, Norbert Weisser and Elizabeth Barondes shadow the leads - Weisser revealing the true role of the man in this business, running away and hiding, and the death of Barondes representing the loss of innocence. All of this is neatly supported by the nightmare world of an American city overrun with refugees from Eastern Europe. With a brief nod to John Carpenter's 'Escape From New York' with one establishing shot and a voice-over, we are then plunged into a totally surreal landscape and the chase begins.

Ok performances lost in a nasty and dumb movie

[Trajanc · 4/10 · 25 January 2003]

I'm not really concerned with whether or not this was a low or big budget movie. A good film can be made with few or lots of $. Unfortunately, this one is a stinker. The overall idea of cops chasing a viiolent plague victim is interesting, but the execution is poor. There are so many illogical and outright silly goings on that it's hard to get involved with the film. Not helping things is the slew of cliched tricks and devices thrown in from the constant amplified panting of all the characters to flashlights that go out at all the right, or wrong times. The film has a few overtly gratuitous and pointlessly nasty scenes. The ending is just flat out incoherent. On the plus side, Lambert and Henstridge don't suck. They are not given much to do acting wise in the picture, but with what they have to work with they do a passable job. There are a few moments of suspense but mostly the film alternates between being repellent and insulting.

One of the 10 worst movies ever!

[Lathander · 1/10 · 5 February 2001]

This is by far Christopher Lambert's worst movie. 4 cops chase a crazy mutant through 1 1/2 hours of pure boredom. Albert Pyun, the director, is notorious for extreme bad movies, but this one beats everything. DON'T WATCH IT!!!!

Makes No Sense Whatsoever

[pmcmurry · 1/10 · 23 July 2003]

This is one of those movies that feels like it was made by a bunch of high schoolers with A.D.D. There is no seriously developed plot whatsoever and some scenes are of inexplicable value to what little plot there is. The writers seem to be trying to make a combination of "Outbreak" and "Aliens" but they don't even get close to bringing the movie to any sort of resolution. Avoid this movie like the plague.

Did someone call in Joe and the bots?

[bmj001 · 2/10 · 7 January 2003]

This is a horrible movie. As if the plot wasn't bad enough, the acting is even worse, the screen shots are etchy at times and the script, my god, the script just plainly doesn't make any sense. The only question I have about this movie is, did MST3K get their hands on this movie yet?

Awful!!

[ultrasroma1975 · 2/10 · 14 January 2005]

While I agree to a certain extent that sometimes the gloomy atmosphere in this flick is catchy, I agree with most of the users that Adrenalin is going nowhere. It's a simple cat and mouse movie in a abandoned place, with lots of inconsistencies.

For example, the policemen's American names along with the fact that the movie should depict Boston contradicts with the Romanian police uniforms (look at the flag on the patches strapped on their shoulders) and their cars (by the way you'll never find cars so old and rusty even in the 70' thrash Italian movies!!!) with the "Policia" name. One clear sign that this is a very low budget movie, shot probably in one of these cheap Eastern-Europe countries.

Forget about the whole movie. I should have known better, that the this was going to be a terrible one, after seeing Christophe Lambert name on the VHS.

The experiment?

[PredragReviews · 7/10 · 22 June 2016]

Weighing in at only 76 minutes, it is a nice filler when you have a little time to kill and don't want to get involved with a longer, more engaging film. That's the way I used it, and as such, it served the purpose pretty well. Yes, as reviewers point out, there is a bit of coca-mamie business at the beginning which is irrelevant to the rest of the film, something about a prison area and the need of passports. Forget it, except for a sequence at the very end, it plays no role at all to which you need attend. True also, 95% of the action is in a limited area which seems fully equipped with endless corridors, dungeons and assorted hiding places. To me this simply meant that the whole film was really only what would be a segment of a longer movie. Why worry. Yes, I, too, noticed that the X-man was capable of extraordinary killing power against presumably trained policemen, some of whom wore protective gear, others of whom wore none, with no apparent ill-effects. One can point out other elements which can contribute to a moment's bemusement; however, the point is, that by accepting these without quibble, over-all it is a not bad way to fill 76 minutes. There is action, there are untenable situations from which to escape, there is a lot of shooting, and a woman comes out top-dog. Although, this was not one of his better movies, I like Christopher Lambert, and there was a lot of action.

Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

Possibly the worst movie I've ever seen

[jordan-30 · 1/10 · 21 July 1999]

Near zero plot, near zero dialog. Remember all the scenes in Alien of people wandering through slimy corridors trying to avoid the monster? This entire movie is like that, only with an uninteresting monster and uninteresting characters.

you'll love it or hate it

[Zargo · 8/10 · 15 October 2002]

If you let the movie suck you in then you'll be in for a tense and exciting 76 minutes. If you sit there and let your mind wander and start thinking about things such as why the police cars in the movie all have policia written on them when the movie is set in an American city (Boston I think...), you'll be in for a very boring time, and you'll probably agree with the lowly rating that this movie has on this site.

It's an interesting and unique movie though, and doesn't deserve to be named one of the all-time stinkers. If you're looking for better Albert Pyun, and better Christopher Lambert, then tune in to their second project together, 'Mean Guns'.

content of Adrenalin

[sekulic2002 · 6/10 · 29 January 2005]

I would like to point out that Adrenalin is a very good movie, although short, but it gives a lot in a very short while; something that "bigger movies" couldn't. Slowly dragged plot gets hooked up and Lambert explodes on the screen only to show all those who leaved his name from the big picture in action movies. Lambert and Henstridge look great like partners on screen, there's an interesting sub story with Natasha's daughter. Albert Pyun is a master of B-movies. He guides the overwhelming turbulent thriller on a not predictable way. Weapons and other equipment in movie look a little out of form but this is just a small failure.

This really is the worst movie I've ever seen

[sarastro7 · 1/10 · 29 December 2003]

This really *is* the worst movie I've ever seen. And there's not much more to say. Horrible, worthless junk.

All they do is run around in some old condemned building for 90 minutes, completely failing to build suspense or intensity of any kind. It's the most pathetic and laughable movie I've ever had the displeasure of watching. It was shockingly underwhelming; I could hardly believe my eyes. Pure exploitation of name actors like Lambert and Henstridge with absolutely zero storytelling or action substance. A remarkable example of the kind of depths the video rental market will stoop to in order to cheat you of your bucks. It's a total rip-off, not of any other movie but of your time and money.

Avoid as if your life depended on it.

1 out of 10.